Glimmer in the Sun
by Strider1
Summary: The story of a hopeful cadet in Nairobi. It's taken me a long, long tiem to update this story
1. The Arrival

Glimmer in the Sun

Part 1: The Arrival

"Well, that's about it, all of your identification papers check out. Welcome to Nairobi, Cadet Raj." 

"Thanks, uh can you tell where my bunk is?"

"Certainly according to your registration file your bunk is on level three, room number 32, which is the second door on your left from the staircase. 

"Thanks again"

Oh, wait just one more second Cadet Raj about your roommates...

"Don't bother, I'll meet them when I reach my room, see ya"

"Okay, goodbye and good luck"

"Oh, wow" New cadet Derik Raj thought to himself as he walked away from the registration booth. "I'm so excited that I was accepted, I never thought I would make it!" Derik had just arrived to the military base in Kenya, only a few hours beforehand and did not have a chance to even look around let alone get settled in anywhere. 

Derik began walking toward the barracks stairs, hefting his heavy duffel bag over his shoulder with a quick groan. "I guess I'd better go and introduce myself to my new roommates and get settled into my new home." The Nairobi base is relatively large and happens to be located very close to the infamous Lake Victoria base although it paled in prestige, mostly because the Victoria base gave rise to one of the most celebrated pilots in the Specials history: Zechs Merquies, a man whom Derik greatly respected. Reaching the top of the stairs Derik stared down the well-lit hall taking notice of two uniformed cadets at the far end of the hall. "Hmm" he thought, I'll try to introduce myself after I unpack, but, first things first, 31, 32, ah here it is. Knocking on the heavy wooden door, he waited until he heard a feminine voice issue forth from behind the door. 

"Come in." Slowly opening the door and peering in the room Derik instantly saw the young girl sitting on one of the four beds unpacking a duffel bag similar to his own. The girl stood up and walked toward Derik.

"Hi my name is Faith Inan, you must be one of my new roomates.... uh what's your name I didn't quite catch it"

"Hello, I'm Derik Raj, it's a pleasure to meet you Faith" Derik said clasping his roomates extended hand. " Uh, you said roomates, right, you wouldn't happen to know if the other two have arrived yet? Faith paused and ran a hand through her shoulder length brown hair. "Actually, yes one has already been here and left, a kid named Kibitz I think, he went down to the mess hall, to get some lunch."

"Thanks Faith, I'm going to go meet him, I'll see you later Cadet Inan" Derik said jokingly as he turned and walked out the door.

"Bye, see ya later" Faith called after him before he disappeared down the stairs.

"Wow." Derik said aloud to himself "Thank god for coed bunks, ha, ha, ha." Derik stepped out into the light, temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight. Shading his eyes with his hand he stood stared out across the base, suddenly realizing that he had no idea what so ever where the mess hall was or for that matter how to get there. Squinting he noticed two uniformed officers in the distance, chatting near a closed up MS hangar, they must know where the mess he reasoned. He began to jog towards the pair, slowing down to a walk as he neared them.

"Excuse me, sir?" Derik began nervously hoping he didn't sound like he was rude. "Can you please tell me where the mess hall is, I just arrived here about an hour ago." One of the officers turned around inspecting Derik. The man was about two or maybe even three times as old as Derik was and showed it too.

"The eatery is that way cadet...

"Raj, sir Derik Raj"

.... Raj, about a hundred yards or so, the white-haired officer said pointing towards the north portion of the base "humph, don't you think you should have found information such as this before you arrived here, cadet?" he continued with a small yet noticeable hint of disdain in his voice.

"Sorry, sir I'll hurry up my orientation."

"Good, dismissed". As soon as Derik heard this he bolted in the direction the older man had pointed happy to just get away from him. Running down along the concrete road he came across a large apparently well-worn building clearly marked "Mess Hall". Upon opening the large door Derik, suddenly realized why the base had seemed so empty when he arrived earlier, the whole hall was filled.

"Holy shit" Derik exclaimed nearly falling over. "There must be at least a thousand people here". (To be exact there were two hundred fifty-six). "How am I gonna find anyone here?"

To Be Continued…


	2. Kibitz

A/N: Wow it's been such a long time since I even attempted to try and continue this story, but since my other fics are getting that many reviews (am I really that bad an author?) I decided to go back to my roots since this was the first thing I ever posted.

The room was seemed to be completely filled and the noise level was so high that Derik had to step back. How the hell am I supposed to find anything in here let alone one person he thought? He moved slowly back into the bustling building, scanning the crowd in a vain attempt to find a person he didn't even know what looked like. All around him he could hear bits and pieces of a hundred different conversations at once. The whole experience was overwhelming to the young cadet, but he was determined not to let himself down on such a simple little job as finding your roommate. He stopped off to the side and leaned against the wall, when he noticed a trio of older boys walking towards him. The apparent leader of the group was a grinning brown-haired young man clad in a worn flight-jacket. He was the first to speak to Derik.

"Hey, newbie my teammates and I couldn't help but notice that you look like you're a little lost." He said, the other two nodding in agreement. They had obviously noticed Derik's wide-eyed wandering throughout he packed hall. A wave of nervousness flashed over him, he had heard stories about the older cadet and pilots hazing the newcomers. 

"The food is over that way." One of the other two said, this one a slightly-overweight greasy looking fellow.

"Shut up, dumbass, he's obviously not looking for food! Is that all you think about?" He chided the shorter man. He turned back to Raj and flashed that wide grin again. "Now tell me what are you looking for?" Derik blinked a couple of times before he spoke again.

"I'm looking for another cadet by the name of Kibitz, sir" he said.

"Whoa hold on, don't call me sir, it's an insult, but unfortunately I don't think I know anyone by that name." He glanced back at his two comrades, who each shook their heads negative. He put a hand to his head and concentrated, before his eyes lit up with a thought. "Oh wait, now I remember! I overheard someone talking and he said his name was kibitz, he's sitting over there" He motioned toward one of the tables at the opposite end of the room. "Short guy, kind of mousy looking, has glasses. Derik thanked the boys and walked off. He intently looked over the table, inspecting each person sitting there, in his attempt to find his missing roommate. One in particular caught his eye, a boy with light brown hair that perfectly matched the description given to him by the older cadet. Kibitz was sitting by himself and by the way he was acting it wouldn't have mattered if he was by himself. He was simply eating, not bothering to talk to any one around him.

"Hey you, Kibitz!" Raj called out, and at the sound of is name being called out the now-scared looking cadet froze complety. 

"What do you want?" he managed to squeak out nervously. 

Derik laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you Anthony, I'm your new roommate, Derik Raj." Derik smiled as pleasantly as he could as he extended his hand to the skittish Kibitz. He seemed to inspect the hand and consider if he should shake it or not for a few seconds before he finally did.

"Pleased to meet you, Derik. I apologize for the way I reacted; I'm not quite used to this whole ordeal yet." He returned Derik's smile. "Have you met Faith yet, oh is she something else." 

"Yes, I have but aren't we supposed to four people per room?"

"I, I guess so, but the fourth guy has gotten here yet." Kibitz removed his glasses and cleaned them before putting them back in their place. 

"Oh well." Derik sighed, "I suppose he'll show up sometime. I have to unpack, so I'll see you later Andy." 

"Goodbye."  The young cadet turned and exited the mess hall. Two roommates down and one to go he thought. What luck, one was a bubbly hottie and the other a jittery mouse, he could only imagine what kind of character his next roomie would turn out to be. He couldn't complain however, because soon he would be at the controls of a mobile suit and in the end that's all that really mattered to him. It was his life's dream to pilot a MS in the military and maybe one day become a good enough pilot to be chosen to join the illustrious specials. He always would imagine himself fighting alongside his idol, the legendary Zechs Merquise. He would be as good as him one day, and there was not one thing in the universe powerful enough to stop that dream from happening.        


	3. The training begins

Glimmer in the Sun

Chapter 3: The Training Begins

It had been a long couple of days for Derik Raj, with navigating the massive base meeting his new roomies and getting acclimated to the whole "military thing." He had met his fourth roommate the day before and boy was he a character. His name was Chase Merkans, the son of wealthy noble who apparently had held a position in the famed Rommefeller Foundation prior to his retirement. Merkans was an arrogant and vain young man, though not to say that he wasn't a nice guy sometimes. It was just that he had an inflated view of himself and his skills. The life of the party has just arrived was the first thing he said when he almost literally burst through the door to there room. He had frightened Kibitz nearly to death, and surprised Derik and Faith just as bad. He was followed soon after by a person who appeared to be a butler carrying a couple of bags.  But they had all managed to survive each other for the first few days and today was the day Derik had waited his whole life for. For today was the day they would begin training with actual Mobile Suits! All of the recruits were lined outside the barracks in the sweltering sun in full uniform. They had been standing there for a few minutes waiting for their instructor to arrive, not a single one wanted to move or mess up at this point. Derik had spent the precious day doing nothing but making sure his uniform was clean and was as shiny as was physically possible. He stood between the always-beaming Faith and the sleepy-looking Kibitz and the smug-faced Merkans. He too was smiling, but the heat was starting to get to him. His collar had long since wilted. The crowd simultaneously turned to look in the direction of an oncoming jeep. The jeep screeched to a halt in front of the recruits and an older-looking man stood up in the back and seemed to examine the young men and women. He hopped out of the vehicle and paced the area in front of them; he looked like the kind of guy that had seen it all at least twice. His face was not as much wrinkled as it was well-worn, and his eyes still showed the fire of a man still in his prime. They were permanently squinted, indicating that a good portion of this man's life was spent outside in the sun. He took a few steps backward, his face as lifeless as steel, then his voice boomed out:

"Attention!" Any recruit that wasn't standing straight bolted up and froze like a statue. The man stood in silence for a few seconds, but then to the surprise of every person gathered there, he smiled!

'My name is Sergeant Alexander Neocral, and for the next few weeks I will be your instructor." He boomed again. "You are the most promising recruits, and if you weren't then you shouldn't be here, but don't think just because we think that you have potential that you can get away with anything you want" Derik's gaze quickly went to look at the still grinning Chase, who seem unfazed by the Sergeant's words.

"There are a few rules, and I'm sure you've all been informed of them, so I won't bore you with the detail, that's not what I'm here to do. From what I know you all have passed the simulator exams and generic skills training, so if you'll follow me I'll take you to your new best friends." He turned on his heels and briskly began walking towards the awe-inspiring MS hangers. The recruits remained still, none of them sure what to do, until he stopped turned around and motioned for them to follow, after which they broke ranks and rushed after him. Neocral stopped them in front of one of the hangers.

"Excuse me, sir but do we each already a suit of our own?" Derik asked, followed by the murmur of the group in agreement.  The sergeant smiled again, laughing.

"Well that depends on whether or not you can handle the real thing, Ensign Raj." The fact that the man already knew his name came as a surprise to the young man. Neocral must have noticed the look on his face and laughed louder this time. "Don't be so surprised, I know each and every one of your names, and a little bit of your background. For example Ensign you've got two brothers, both of whom served in the military, one with the Specials," He was correct, his older brother Dominic does serve with the Specials, and his other brother Damien was a promising MS designer, but he went MIA a year ago during a trip to the colonies. Derik had another brother, but according to his parents he died when he was young so Derik was therefore the youngest of the three. 

"But onward to more important matters than just personal information." Neocral said, motioning to a pair of soldiers, who proceeded to open the hanger, revealing the brand new Leos inside. A collective awe rose throughout the trainees, as they took in the sight of the humanoid machines. "I want each of you to find the suit that has your identification number inscribed on the shoulder." 

"When do we get to fight something" one of the recruits called out. A wave of laughter rolled over the crowd.

"You're not gonna do anything, till you get your suits outta that hanger." Neocral chided

            Too a seasoned pilot, the next few hours would have brought on a combination of fits of laughter and extreme grief. This was mostly due to the exploits of the young trainees attempting to maneuver their Leo's out of the hanger. The recruits soon realized that piloting an actual suit was a lot harder than piloting a simulation. Some managed to do it on the first or second try but others weren't so lucky. Kibitz had somehow tripped and slammed into the side of the hanger, while two others walked right into each other. Yet another pilot fell flat on his face. Derik did not want to mess up, so he took the ordeal as slowly as possibly, not wanting to rush anything and risk looking bad. Step by step, he eased his suit out the door and onto the concrete, where to his surprise he found both Faith and Merkans among the few that made it outside without screwing up.

"You made it, great job!" Faith called out from within her own suit.

"Yeah, looks like you got lucky, roomie" Merkans added. Little did he know that this was only step one in his path to becoming a pilot.         


End file.
